Pottery, Paint, Spat oh my

Ok,
We go to the pottery store. I thought, wow, I'll be a great mom and let them just do their thing, hey I'll get something to paint because I want to just paint and didn't want to interfere with their work.

WHAT WAS I THINKING!? It's my kids...Caroline the "talker" and Anna the cryer and not happy girl (hot cold girl). She's either really happy or really moody. We love her for it!

Anyway, we go through the door, I glance over to a table of two women just all into their work and appear to be "artistic" and enjoy the quietness of painting. Like they are in the library reading books.

Anyway, on with the story...
So I am thinking in my head "wonder if they have a back room or something" I am sure my kids will flip after 10 min of this. So I take them by the hands and tell them that we are going to walk around and look at everything so they can make the best choice that they want.

We start at the beginning and Anna immediately grabs something from a basket. I impulsively tell her "no anna" and she drops it back into the basket. I hear a clink, bam, and look to see if anyone is looking. No one noticed, I don't look to see what happened, and we continue on.

They see a dolphin they both want, of course there is only one, so we move on. Caroline decides she wants 2 things. I have to negotiate with her over these for a few min. Meanwhile getting stares from the "library painter" ladies that are so content with quiet.

Finally, Anna decides on a mermaid, and Caroline a heart bowl in the shape of a heart.

I decide to get a large square platter. LARGE. I was thinking I could just whip some paint on this sucker and call it a day. OBVIOUSLY I have never done this before!

We head over to the paint section, both kids looking like we are in an all you can eat candy store. Grabbing, shouting etc. (more stares from ladies).

We finally get the paint to the table and get a "lesson" on how to only fill it to a certain line and not to waste the paint (as my kids squirt paint all over the inserts), and how we are suppose to rinse the brushes and dab on a paper towel to change colors (as my kids just go from one paint to another).

What the heck!? I guessed that that was going to happen. Who cared? I just focused on my LARGE square platter.

I started with a base color of lime. I put the base color up to the little measure line in my carton. I scooped it out of the carton onto the square platter. It was gone in like 1 second. That pottery was like a freaking sponge!

I filled up 3 cartons, and lathered the plate up. I barely got 1/2 of one side edge done! Then the saga started. Every second and every stroke of Caroline's project was look at this look at that, anna is doing this anna is doing that, i have paint on my hands, is it ok if I get it on my clothes, it's on the floor, it's on the table, anna is mixing the paint.

I try to focus on my platter. Anything they said was ok.
Caroline: Momma can I paint my hand?
Me: Sure ANYTHING YOU WANT TO DO.

Caroline: Can I use blue?
Me: Sure honey ANYTHING YOU WANT TO DO.

Caroline: Can I use this color?
Me: Sure honey ANYTHING YOU WANT TO DO.

Caroline: Anna isn't mine better than yours?
Anna: Crying
Ladies that are painting: looks
Me: Don't say that Caroline
Caroline: well it does look better than Anna's
Anna: Yep
Caroline: See she said it does look better than hers, her mermaid is ugly she put all colors together
Anna; Crying
Me; It is fine, it is hers, do anything you want it is yours.

So at this time, over and over and over and over more and more and more of chaos but "fun?" I am still nowhere near painting the base coat! Like I said A FREAKING Sponge! So when the lady wasn't looking, I completely bi-pass the carton where you are suppose to dip from and completely squirt a big blob into the middle of the plate on the sides. I was painting and slathering that paint like I was running a marathon, being chased by a criminal, etc. It was like I had to finish it and pronto.

I kept eyeing the girls, and their projects were finishing up. Anna was tired of the mermaid. I was tired of telling Anna to hold on to the mermaid and she kept knocking her over on the table and crying that she fell and the paint came off some and that she had any paint on her at all. She's like that. :)

Anyway, the lady comes over and tells Anna her mermaid looks like algae. Anna cries and gives her the "piss off" look Anna is good for. :)

Caroline says "mine looks better than Anna's"

and I am still in the midst of lathering up the first coat.

I have thoughts of coming back in my "free" time to complete the project. I didn't even know what I was going to put in the middle, paint, colors, etc. I was contemplating just a plain lime platter with nothing. Possibly the kids hand prints, etc.

Then I realize IT IS MY SQUARE platter, and I had to take the time to make it MINE. I had been telling to kids to make their project theirs, and I HAD to make it mine. It was like a challenge.

I tell the ladies that help with the pottery " do you do the kids hand prints, and DO YOU help the kids do them?"

I mean I really wanted to have these, but really really needed help, and hey REALLY wanted some time to myself after the whole event.

SO the ladies took the kids over and did the special project where they picked their own colors for their hand prints, and I told the ladies I wanted the tiles to have holes so I could put them on the wall.

The hand painting project was the answer. The kids felt like they were special, doing something for mommie, and it was something that I wanted and had wanted for awhile.

I had just a little more to do on my LARGE platter when the girls came back. Anna came back and started painting with paint on the paper. Lady told her not to and she threw a fit and wanted me to hold her. I was on the home stretch and didn't' want to stop so close to finishing.

I held Anna, and finished up my art. The kids took the bottles of paint back up to the counter, and Anna sat down, and SMASH the "algae" mermaid fell to the floor bounced back up and back down and broke a section off.

The lady behind me said "boy these are made well" I thought it would have smashed in a million pieces.

Anna was devastated. I stood up grabbed the multi-colored algae mermaid and shouted "SHE'S FINE!" She is FINE nothing is wrong Anna (basically translation WE ARE NOT PAINTING ANOTHER DAMN THING TODAY AND MY ASS IS OUT OF HERE!).

You never tell a 3 year old how bad something is. I looked at the algae mermaid and realized not only did it have a huge piece missing, but it was completely cracked all around the whole middle. I felt bad, but acted like nothing was wrong. Anna had had it, it was broken, we were leaving, and I was done with painting.

I told the pottery lady "I don't care if you have to super glue it, I don't care if it is fired, I don't care what you have to do, we are picking it up in 1 week and I just want it in one piece please!".

As I was paying and basically ready to sprint out of there, I caught my girls in the corner of my eye. I thought they were just looking at a shelf of example ceramics, but when I turned around, I realized they were PLAYING with samples that people were to come and pick up. They had other people's completed works in their hands and playing with them.

I freaked out more that the whole event. We were out of there $100 and broken alge mermaid and upset 3 year old, and proud 5 year old were out of there.

Point of story:
1. Don't pick a LARGE platter unless you are by yourself, drinking wine with girlfriends, or crazy with 2 kids.
2. Realize it will not be a smooth event with 2 kids
3. Realize at least 1 1/2 of 3 people might really have a great time (caroline and me 1/2 of the time)
4. Realize things might be broken (yours or someone elses, or the property of the store), but you keep your head up and RUN out of the door as quickly as possible.
5. Looking back at the story I realize I really did have a good time. :)

Realize this was only 1 hr of our life, and I spent it painting pottery with my girls. PLUS I'll have cool tiles, a LARGE green platter, a heart bowl, and a broken split cracked algae mermaid and will have memories that will last a lifetime!